LOWELL -- Police Superintendent Kenneth Lavallee was expected to retire by the end of 2013, but City Manager Bernie Lynch surprised even some police officers when he announced Tuesday night that Lavallee will leave by the end of this month.

Lynch made the announcement during a City Council meeting.

Neighborhood leaders expressed surprise, saying they expected Lavallee to retire by the end of the year, but certainly not by the end of March.

Several police sources said the move was a surprise even inside police headquarters, where top brass only heard the news earlier Tuesday. Rank-and-file officers learned the news Tuesday night.

Lynch said Lavallee told him of his decision on Monday, but Lynch kept it to himself until Tuesday because he wanted city councilors to be the first to know.

Lavallee, who is 58, did not immediately return calls or emails seeking comment.

He makes $119,000 per year in base pay under a three-year contract he signed retroactively in October 2011. That contract expires at the end of this year, and Lavallee had said it would be his last.

Lavallee was appointed interim chief on Dec. 1, 2006, when former Superintendent Edward Davis left to become police commissioner in Boston. Lynch appointed Lavallee to the permanent position on Sept. 25, 2007.

The position is not a civil-service position, so Lynch will have wide leeway to appoint whomever he wants from either inside or outside the department.

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If Lynch promotes someone internally, deputy superintendents Arthur Ryan and Deborah Friedl are expected to be leading candidates, as will several of the department's senior captains, such as Capt. Bill Taylor.

The superintendent's position was determined under civil-service rules prior to Lavallee's appointment, so the process of choosing the next superintendent has little precedent.

Lynch said he plans to appoint an interim chief by the end of the month because there is not enough time to conduct a full search for a permanent chief by then.

"I plan to draw upon inside and outside resources to assist me," Lynch said. "I want to utilize some community people and some outside law-enforcement officials and academics."

Lynch praised Lavallee, saying he carried on the strategies embraced by Davis, and like Davis, oversaw drops in crime and gang violence.

"I think he has done a remarkable job," Lynch said. "Chief Lavallee has built upon the work of Chief Ed Davis, and the next chief will be expected to build on Chief Lavallee's work."

When Davis left, Lavallee continued the department's community-policing strategies, but also placed a stronger emphasis on downtown disorder and traffic enforcement -- two areas of enforcement that didn't always win him friends.

The downtown remains a concern, but crashes and injuries have been down in recent years as the department has issued significantly more citations under Lavallee's leadership.

Lynch mentioned Lavallee's strong ties to the community, and neighborhood leaders echoed that sentiment even as they expressed surprise at the news.

Ann Marie Page, president of the Citywide Neighborhood Council, a consortium of city neighborhood groups, said she knew Lavallee would probably retire by the end of the year, but was surprised it will be so soon.

She and Kathleen Marcin, president of the Lowell Downtown Neighborhood Association, both said Lavallee's strongest trait was his accessibility.

Marcin recalled a neighborhood meeting in the Acre in the spring of 2010 where Lavallee hoped to talk to residents about gunfire and assaults in the area. No one showed up, but Lavallee and his officers remained in the park where the meeting was scheduled.

Eventually, Lavallee began approaching passers-by and residents on balconies, beckoning them to come talk. Marcin said the incident showed her Lavallee really cared about his job.

"He has been so engaged with all the neighborhood groups and he has been, in my opinion, completely sincere about improving the overall safety of the city," Marcin said.

"If I needed him, I called him," Page said. "If I emailed him I never got that 'don't bother me' attitude."

Page said she hopes to see a similar open-door policy from whoever replaces Lavallee.

"We want someone who is there," Page said. "If we pickup the phone and say we have a problem, we want it solved."

Ryan and Friedl both declined to comment on the news or whether they will pursue a promotion.

Friedl did say she was saddened by Lavallee's retirement.

"I've worked with Ken my entire career," Friedl said. "I'm happy for him and the new opportunities this may present, but I feel a bit of sadness at his leaving."

Lavallee was sworn in as a Lowell police officer on Jan. 8, 1984, after working as Westford Police dispatcher and as security director at the former St. John's Hospital in Lowell. He also worked briefly for Carlisle and Manchester, N.H., police. He became deputy superintendent in January 1999.

Lavallee is a cancer survivor, having emerged in good health from a bout with prostate cancer in early 2006, just before he became superintendent.

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